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ACTION ALERTS
Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations Act (WANTO) funding restored
Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations Act (WANTO). WANTO funding ($982,000) has been restored in the final 2006 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill. This is particularly remarkable given that the Labor-HHS bill was quite contentious this time around, with significant reductions in funds in a number of areas. First enacted in 1992 as the result of successful local initiatives and national policy work, the WANTO program, the only national stream of funding directed to support women in nontraditional occupations, has been critically important to tradeswomen groups and our industry partners in supporting programs to recruit and retain tradeswomen. Unfortunately, it was eliminated from the DOL budget in 2004 and TNT and our colleagues have been fighting since then for its restoration.
Senators Specter (R-PA), Regula (R-OH), and Harkin (D-IA) with their staff, Tradeswomen Now and Tomorrow (TNT), and WOW, serving as chair of the TNT Policy Committee were the primary actors in moving this effort forward.
WANTO has been responsible for awarding 60 technical assistance grants to employers, nonprofit community-based organizations and labor unions to help them recruit, train and retain women for non-traditional, high-wage/high-demand jobs. These are the jobs that we know employers are looking to fill but for which there are not enough trained workers. Annual appropriations of approximately $1 million were made for WANTO until 2003. For FY 2004, funding of $993,000 was appropriated for WANTO grants but, due to the small amount of funds involved, there was not a specific WANTO line item in the legislation. However, report language indicated Congress’ intent that WANTO grants be funded at this level in FY 2004. Unfortunately, the USDOL Women’s Bureau, which is responsible for administering WANTO grants, failed to initiate a grant process, and indicated on its website that it did not intend to fund WANTO activities. The new conference report (see below) has language we believe will prevent that from happening again.
Much thanks to TNT members and colleagues for your efforts on behalf of this important program. TNT will send a big thank-you letter to Chairman Regula on the House side, and to Chairman Specter and Sen. Harkin on the Senate side. We encourage you to do the same to policymakers that you contacted. We especially want to laud the efforts of TNT Board members Kathy Augustine from Hard Hatted Women and Linda Butler of TOP/WIN in Philadelphia who were instrumental in getting this money restored. Proof that advocacy and our programs' visibility with policymakers is key. We also appreciate the great leadership provided by Joan Kuriansky who leads TNT's policy committee and her organization, Wider Opportunities for Women for their tremendous efforts. And we tip our hardhats to our savvy and vigilant policy consultant, Kathy Patrick, whose strategic thinking and consistent and tenacious follow-through kept the pressure on.
Next TNT and WOW will be working with DOL to ensure they do a good grant process. And, believe it or not, we'll soon need to talk with the appropriation staff about the 2007 appropriations. For now, though, yay for us! Wins are pretty rare these days -- this one is worth celebrating
